Red Bud withheld a strong challenge from Steeleville, and Trico rallied in the second half to top Egyptian to become the only two undefeated teams left in the round robin Trico Pioneer Invitational Tournament Wednesday night.
Red Bud 52, Steeleville 45
 A big steal and two clutch free throws by Jake Hoffman allowed Red Bud to hold off a tough Steeleville team 52-45 Wednesday night.
With the Musketeers leading by just three points, 48-45, with under 30 seconds to play in the game, Hoffman intercepted a Steeleville pass and then calmly sank two free throws to give his squad a five-point advantage and some breathing room down the stretch.
“Jake made some real big plays late in the game for us,” said Red Bud coach David Gillingham. “He is capable of making those big plays and he came through for us tonight. He is a gifted athlete and we are going to ask him to do a lot of things for us this year.”
Hoffman scored eight of his 16 points in the fourth quarter, while Adam Kunkel also scored six of his game high 22 points in the final period.
“Adam stepped up big again tonight when we needed him to,” added Gillingham. “This was not our best showing, but we played our best basketball of the game in the final minutes. We came up with some big stops and made some free throws when we needed to.”
Steeleville was without one of its main weapons in the fourth quarter, as Colin Smith fouled out on the first offensive set of the period. However, fellow junior Joey Wittenbrink came off the bench and gave the Warriors a solid boost, scoring six points to keep his team close.
“I found another sub tonight, and he played well,” said Steeleville coach Gerald Mumbower about Wittenbrink. “We were in this game, but we still had too many turnovers. We were trying to make too many perfect passes and a lot of our turnovers were forced by us. The team played hard, and they didn’t quit.”
The game was anything but pretty in the first quarter, as both teams had trouble scoring. Steeleville was able to take control of the game first with its inside play. Coire Reel and Smith each had four points in the opening period, as the Warriors opened up to an 8-3 lead.
The Musketeers were 3-of-14 from the field in the first frame, but two of those shots, three-pointers by Kunkel and Kory Liefer, sparked a 7-0 run to end the period. At the end of the first quarter, Red Bud led 10-8.
The two teams went back and forth in the second quarter as there was four lead changes over the eight minutes of play. Kunkel scored seven points in the period, but his team’s shooting did not approve much form the first making just 2-of-7.
Steeleville made 5-of-9 shots in the quarter as Smith tossed in nine points, but turnovers, six of them, led to a slim Red Bud lead at the intermission, 21-20. Red Bud clearly won the turnover battle in the first half, as Steeleville committed 11 turnovers compared to just three for the Musketeers.
Baskets by Nick Potter and Smith gave Steeleville a three-point lead, but Red Bud finished off the quarter with an 8-4 run to lead 33-30 heading into the fourth. Kunkel paced the Musketeer attack in the third with six points.
Hoffman nailed a three-pointer early in the fourth quarter to spark a 6-2 run, as Red Bud grabbed its biggest lead of the game, 39-32.
Two baskets each from Reel and Wittenbrink, along with a pair of free throws from Andrew Pokrzywinski and Steeleville was back even with Red Bud at 42-42 with under four minutes to play.
The Warriors would stay close with Red Bud until Hoffman’s steal and free throw conversions put the win on ice.
“It was not our best shooting night, but we did enough at the end to win,” added Gillingham. “For the first 30 minutes, these two teams fought tooth and nail. Our biggest lead was just seven points. We couldn’t pull away from them. Steeleville did a nice job of getting the ball inside on us.”
Smith finished with 17 points to pace Steeleville, while Reel added 13.
Red Bud improved to 2-0 in the tournament, while Red Bud fell to 1-1.
Trico 64, Egyptian 54
Trailing 31-27 at halftime, Trico outscored Egyptian 22-13 in the third quarter and 15-10 in the fourth for a 64-54 victory Wednesday night.
With the win Trico improved to 2-0 in the tournament, while Egyptian fell to 0-2.
The Pioneers started the game with the hot hand, as they nailed three three-pointers in the opening minutes of the game against Egyptian’s 2-1-2 zone to grab a 12-7 lead.
However, the shots would stop falling as Trico would go 0-for-4 from the field with three turnovers over the final four minutes of the first quarter.
Egyptian responded by ending the quarter with a 10-1 scoring run for a 17-13 advantage. Egyptian senior Matt Petermichel did most of the damage, as he posted nine points in the opening frame.
“We hit a couple of threes early in the game and then the rest of our offense was perimeter orientated,” said Trico coach Shane Hawkins. “We didn’t show enough patience to go inside their zone. You can score inside on their zone, we just didn’t wait for our opportunities early on.”
Each team scored 14 points in the second quarter as Egyptian held onto its four-point advantage, leading 31-27 at halftime. The Pharaohs dominated the offensive glass in the second period pulling down eight rebounds and converting them into eight second chance points.
Egyptian led by as much as seven points in the quarter, but Trico’s lone senior, Clint Young, nailed two three-pointers to keep his team close. Pioneer sophomore Chase Heins also had six points in the period.
Trico turned things around early in the second half, as Jesse Smith scored the first five points which sparked a 11-2 run to give his team control, up 40-33.
Smith finished with 10 points in the quarter and Dylan Witthoft drained two three-pointers to help their team to a 49-44 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Witthoft sank another three-pointer early in the fourth quarter, and fellow sophomore Trevor Compton scored on a layup to give the Pioneer a 10-point lead, 54-44 with 5:07 left to play.
Trico was able to slow the game down and hit clutch free throws down the stretch to seal the win, 64-54. Tyler Coleman was a 5-for-6 from the line in that stretch.
“There was a four to five minute stretch in the second half where we really attacked the basket,” said Hawkins. “By attacking the basket, we were finally able to put pressure on Egyptian’s defense. But for us to continue to be successful in this tournament, we have to guard better than we did tonight.”
Smith finished with 16 points to lead the Trico offense, while Witthoft added 13, Coleman had 12 and Heins chipped in 11.